Giftalong

Happy December!! Are you guys all working on your holiday knitting? Or are you opting for a little less stress this year...hahaha! I'm busy working on a design deadline but I'm still hoping to get a few holiday gifts in. We'll see.

I can't believe this will be my 9th year of blogging! Happy blogiversary month! We've got a few fun things planned in the next few weeks for you. To kick it off, I thought we'd have a guest post! Erica is going to talk a little about some of her favorite designs she's seen over in the Indie Design Gift-A-Long. I'm so excited to be one of the Designers participating this year! And be sure to read to the end....we're starting blogiversary month off with some fun!!
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Tick tock, tick tock...19 days left until Christmas. Can you believe it? I can't! I bet you want to knit a couple things and get them under the tree or in a stocking. Me too. I went searching through the Indie Design Gift-A-Long designs and thought I'd share my discoveries.

Mikkey by Lee Meredith



A chunky cowl using slip stitches, one of my favorite techniques for working with color that is deceptively simple with a super cool result. Imagine how striking it would be in black and white!

Snowy Woods Cowl by Michele Bernstein



I love the reverse stockinette design, leaving the tree branches highly visible. Fun, quick knit in Aran weight.

Faro by Jen Lucas



Slip stitches. Stripes. Aran weight. What a fun and fast knit!

Owl in the Thicket by Sara Burch



Cables and lace, with beads or buttons to accentuate the owl's eyes. Too cute!

Bluet by Bonnie Sennott



Cables and lace? How could you go wrong?

X-Intercept by Star Athena



Knits and purls that spiral! Simple technique, yet a striking striped effect.

There are 335 designers participating in the Indie Giftalong, with several KALs to participate in with oodles of prizes. It's not too late to join in the fun (details here) and get some gift knitting started and finished by December 31. Speaking of KALs, our Q4 KAL has started and the theme is Gift Knitting! Join in the fun here and also double dip by entering your WIPs and FOs into both ravelry group contests. I have SO MANY Irish Girlie favorites, as you may have guessed, but I thought I'd highlight a few of my go-tos for gift knitting.

Seamus by Irishgirlieknits



I can't even remember how many of these I knit. So quick and so fun because the cables are easy, plus you have a ton of vacation rows in between. I recently knit one for Padraig in a tweed and he is obsessed with how squishy it is!

Alpine Lake by Irishgirlieknits



This textured cowl is a dream to knit and works up in a flash in bulky. The loop is easily doubled for a warmer cowl and I love that the striking stitch pattern is unisex. I loved the version I knit in a bulky single



and I'm going to stash dive to whip up another for a quick teacher gift.

Rathmore by Irishgirlieknits



I love this for a gift knit! Stripes and lace make this a unique and impressive knit, that definitely delights the recipient. I knit this as a gift for a friend, and I must admit that I was a little sad when the knitting was done. It was such a dream to work up!

So tell me, tell me! What's your favorite IGK pattern to gift? And, hey, why not come on over and join us in the Irish Girlie Ravelry Group December KAL which is all about gift knitting to tie in with the Indie Design GAL! See you there. - Erica

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We usually celebrate blogiversary month with some fabulous specials and this time is no different. For the next two weeks, I'll be picking a few favorite patterns, with a little help from Erica and Tricia aka Cheeky Attitude, and marking them down for 50% off for 2-days only! So you'll need to check back here frequently so you don't miss out!

Erica's post reminded me of an old favorite, Alpine Lake. It really does knit up quickly in Bulky. The pattern is easy to memorize too! Don't have any bulky yarn? Double up some worsted and you are good to go...go up a needle size maybe if you aren't getting gauge.

So, from now until Dec. 8, 11:59pm PST, Alpine Lake is 50%, just $3.00! No coupon necessary!


Happy Knitting!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Spring Awakening

It's not just one of my favorite musicals.



Which by the way is going to be made into a movie.

It's this time of year where it is so nice to sit knitting at a softball game at 7pm, but still be a bit chilly. April showers, spring flowers. A bit more daylight. A bit more energy.

And with the transition of the seasons, you also need those transitional knits....cowls, scarves, hats. I've got a few new ones to share with you!

Sluggy





Designed with the lovely Shalimar Yarns Homage DK, this hat was originally designed to celebrate ShaliMarch. But what the heck, we can still knit with Shalimar in April, right?



My favorite thing about this design is that it looks great on the whole family.



Lil' Snowboarder is modeling the same hat as her dad, but it has a slouchier fit on her. I think he wants another knit in the large size too now.





Awwww....little Magpie looks so sweet in her hat, don't you think? I know, I know. I'm a biased auntie.


 Her hat is knit with Big Bad Wool's Weepaca yarn. This yarn is Ah-mazing! I just love how soft it is.


Notes: Instructions are written for a multiple-sized, slouchy hat. If a slouchier hat is preferred, you can either work the body of hat until desired length or go up a needle size for the body of hat. Modifications will require more yardage. Charts are provided.

                                                                                                              

Suggested Yarns: ~95 (140, 170, 200) yards of dk/light worsted weight yarn such as Shalimar Yarns Homage DK, Big Bad Wool Weepaca, The Plucky Knitter Bello Worsted, Bare Naked Wools Stone Soup DK

I can't wait to knit another one of these for me!

FYI, Sluggy is on sale through April 15, for $5.00 and then will retail for $6.00 

The other design available this week is Seamus.





A special thank you to Disco who knit this sample up quickly in the new Bare Naked Wools Confection. I'll admit, I was a bit jealous she was able to knit with this lovely yarn. But at least I get to wear this lovely infinity scarf. I just love this combination of cables and yarn.



I knit the smaller cowl version with one skein of A Verb for Keeping Warm Pioneer. Another lovely, gorgeous yarn.

This cabled infinity scarf or cowl is the perfect beginner project for learning cables, as there are only five rounds of cables. It is also perfect to show off that special skein you’ve wanted to cast on. Cables and worsted weight yarn makes this a quick knit!

Pattern Notes: Instructions are written for two sizes, a cowl and an infinity scarf, knit in the round. Written for cowl with instructions for infinity scarf given in parentheses if different. Charts are provided on the back page.

Suggested Yarns: 165 (370) yards of heavy worsted weight yarn such as Bare Naked Wools Confection, Anzula For Better or Worsted, A Verb for Keeping Warm Pioneer, Kolláge Yarns Fantastic, The Plucky Knitter Rustic, Brooklyn Tweed Shelter

 



Jill Zielinski, aka Knitterella, did an excellent job on the photo shoot (isn't her cousin Dani gorgeous?!!). Thanks Jill! I feel for her a bit with all that snow though.

Seamus is also on sale through April 15 for $5.00 (then retails for $6.00).

I also released Snow Plants this week, the shawl I designed for A Verb for Keeping Warm's Pro-Verbial Club. I'll be blogging more about this pattern, but did want to let you know it is available and on sale!





It is definitely springtime with all of these new designs. Three in one week! When it rains, it pours.

A few more quick announcements....

If you are in the LA area this weekend, then hopefully you already know about the LA Yarn Crawl, April 3-6.



Please be sure to stop by Knit Culture Studio to see some of my designs that are there for a trunk show. I love that they've picked some of their favorite designs from a number of designers to put together a pretty amazing trunk show. Plus, check out this gorgeous design that Hilary, the Yarniad, designed for them this weekend. Gorgeous!

The other announcement is that the Irish Girlie Knits Ravelry Group has picked our next KAL. Wish I Might and any other Stripey IGK patterns! Come join us for the fun (oh, and there is a coupon code there too!).

And with that, I think I better get to bed. Phew. I'd love to hear how your spring has been going? Any exciting plans for the weekend?

Happy Friday!!Happy Spring!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

A weekend of celebrating!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! We started celebrating this weekend- baking Soda Bread, watching Darby O'Gill and the Little People, playing Irish music all day. I think I love this holiday because it brings back such fond memories of my childhood and grandparents and St. Patrick's Day parades and Irish Dancing and family. There was lots of family time this weekend.



What a happy smile Magpie has! I just love her to bits! It is ridiculous the amounts of photos I have of her because every time I see her she is changing. And the baby coooing....I love the reciprocity when I coo, she coos. So sweet!



Haha! Here she is modeling for Keegan.Those socks are coming off if she has her way. Too funny!

There was time for knitting this weekend too.





At softball...





With sangria by the pool. A quick one skein cowl, Seamus, which is being prepped for a new IGK release. The yarn is A Verb for Keeping Warm's Pioneer and it is beyond lovely. The cowl is blocking now, so I can cast on for my Polartorte hat. The yarn arrived Friday and wow oh wow is Bare Naked Wools Stone Soup DK just fabulous!



So soft!



This was in with my package from Knitspot. Do tell Erica or Anne?!? Don't make us wait...hints??

Speaking of Bare Naked Wools, I finally released Contorta, my new design in Breakfast Blend fingering.





I'll do a proper blog post about them later this week, but did want to let you know the pattern was available in case you wanted to take advantage of the St. Patrick's Day Sale!

Here are the details everyone...
March 17-18

BOGO Free! with the coupon code: LUCKY

Buy one pattern, get one free (lesser priced pattern will be free; Merrily and Sleepy Hollow Collections included, but other ebook collections excluded)!

Only includes patterns published by Irish Girlie Knits Designs in my Ravelry shop here (e.g., does not include patterns published by Kollage Yarns, BMFA). However, see below for some new patterns that are now IGK patterns as well!

Discount can be used more than once, but patterns must be bought in multiples of 2 (e.g., 2, 4, 6…). Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Feel free to share this info with your friends or any appropriate groups on Ravelry. The more the merrier!

Here are the details everyone...
March 17-18

BOGO Free! with the coupon code: LUCKY

Buy one pattern, get one free (lesser priced pattern will be free; Merrily and Sleepy Hollow Collections included, but other ebook collections excluded)!

Only includes patterns published by Irish Girlie Knits Designs in my Ravelry shop here (e.g., does not include patterns published by Kollage Yarns, BMFA). However, see below for some new patterns that are now IGK patterns as well!

Discount can be used more than once, but patterns must be bought in multiples of 2 (e.g., 2, 4, 6…). Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Feel free to share this info with your friends or any appropriate groups on Ravelry. The more the merrier! - See more at: http://wedonothaveaknittingproblem.blogspot.com/#sthash.TM6JDBht.dpuf

Here are the details everyone...
March 17-18

BOGO Free! with the coupon code: LUCKY

Buy one pattern, get one free (lesser priced pattern will be free; Merrily and Sleepy Hollow Collections included, but other ebook collections excluded)!

Only includes patterns published by Irish Girlie Knits Designs in my Ravelry shop here (e.g., does not include patterns published by Kollage Yarns, BMFA). However, see below for some new patterns that are now IGK patterns as well!

Discount can be used more than once, but patterns must be bought in multiples of 2 (e.g., 2, 4, 6…). Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Feel free to share this info with your friends or any appropriate groups on Ravelry. The more the merrier! - See more at: http://wedonothaveaknittingproblem.blogspot.com/#sthash.TM6JDBht.dpuf

I'm glad we did most of our celebrating this weekend because I did not feel well at all today :(  Really tired and lots of head pain. So I spent a lot of the day sleeping, but don't worry, I did enjoy the leftovers from last night's dinner again today! And I think a spot of tea and soda bread is just perfect. And these photos that my sister texted me....





Guess who rolled over this weekend?!



Tired from all the celebrating! And don't touch her giraffe....

And because I love you guys, I think I'll release Glacier Point  in time for the sale too! Sneak peek....



Happy St. Patrick's Day!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Seamus

It is never to early to start thinking about fall and holiday knitting, right?  Well, if you agree, then Seamus is the pattern for you!  Introducing one of my new patterns for Kollage Yarns...

Seamus

The pattern is written for both an infinity scarf and a cowl and features Kollage Yarns Fantastic.  I was so excited to design something with Fantastic since I first felt some of Erica's projects out of it.  Everytime I would say, "Oh! Love that! What yarn is it?"  She would say, "Fantastic."  Literally, four or five projects in a row.  Same comment! It is soooooo squishy soft!  I can't wait to knit this one for me soon.

Don't be intimidated by those cables.  There are only 6 rounds of cable total, everything else is knit knit knit! Perfect for travel knitting, last-minute gifts, my kind of knitting!

This is the cowl version, and only requires two skeins.  Talk about a quick knit.

These cables just scream fall to me!  The pattern is available to download on Patternfish now or you can purchase it from your favorite LYS that carries Kollage Yarns.  It is also one of the patterns featured in Feed Your Creativity, which was a big hit at TNNA this past weekend! So exciting!

A very special thank you to Disco and Nartian for doing an awesome job test knitting this for me back in March.  Thanks ladies!!  I so appreciate it!

Keep an eye out in the Kollage Yarns group on Ravelry for an exciting KAL too!

Happy Knitting!

xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Must to Bed

But, I wanted to tell you that Summer Wind is now available and I'm offering a special introductory 20% off price with the coupon code: happysummer

I promise a proper post soon with more details about this fun, quick knit!

And both of my Kollage Yarns patterns were released this week!  Keegan Bay Hat and Socks are the perfect baby gift I think!  Look at cute baby Scarlett...



Seamus is an infinity scarf and cowl and is so on my to-knit list for fall!  The pattern features cabling on only 1 out of 10 rounds, so you will love how quickly this knits up! This one is already available online at Patternfish.  This was my first time using Fantastic, and all I can say is, fantastic! So squishy soft!

I'm totally depriving you of more pictures, but I promise a proper post this weekend.

And, just a few Capitola Kits left at Sunshine Yarns, so pop on over if you haven't already.  She'll be doing more kits in the next few updates I think as well!

Oh, and we are voting for our Summer KAL in the Irishgirlieknits Group on Ravelry.  Come join us!!

Just two more days of crazy, busy work.  Then just regular work and a bit of summer relaxation. Two days. I can do it.  Hope you guys are having a good week!!  

Night night.
xoxo Irishgirlieknits